Hygiena 2013, 58(4):162-166 | DOI: 10.21101/hygiena.a0983

Strokes and the Role of the Media in Public Awareness

Šárka Urbánková¹, Jiří Neumann², Hana Potměšilová³

¹ Masarykova univerzita, Lékařská fakulta, Ústav preventivního lékařství, Brno

² Nemocnice Chomutov, Neurologické oddělení, Iktové centrum, Chomutov

³ Commedia, Hradec Králové

The incidence and prevalence of strokes in the Czech Republic in comparison with other developed European countries continues to be high. Strokes as such belong to the most common causes of death and permanent disability in the adult population. They constitute a significant impact on health care economy, especially in terms of of permanent disability, and the social situation of the patient. New practices and trends in treatment, which are applied in complex cerebrovascular and stroke centers significantly increase the chances of patients being successfuly cured. It is necessary to refocus from treatment to prevention and to increase public awareness of recognition of stroke symptoms and to educate the public on adequate response in such an eventuality. Although this is in principle supported by educational campaigns, the power of the mass media, with its extraordinary influence, remains unused to its full extent. Since 2005, the Czech Republic has promoted a campaign called "30 days for the prevention and treatment of stroke", which follows the global Stroke Awareness Day. In our study we have compared the number of published media items pertaining to this issue in 2006-2008 and 2009-2011, in order to ascertain the extent of media attention to this serious disease. These are conceived to have an impact on public awareness of strokes.

Keywords: cardiovascular diseases, prevention of stroke, media, information campaign

Received: September 2012; Accepted: February 4, 2013; Published: December 1, 2013  Show citation